Radio is evolving. Those who speak of a 'golden age' of commercial radio in the UK in the seventies and eighties are missing the point.
Yes, those times were great and I was so immensely privileged to be part of them. But the industry is moving on in different ways and I saw both the old and the new on a visit to Bradford yesterday
More importantly I saw plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.
31 August 2014
19 August 2014
Defining Radio
OK, I'm going to have another go at an old chestnut. Is radio on the internet 'radio'?
On one level, it obviously is. The listener's experience is, or certainly should be, platform blind. I don't care how utilities are delivered to my home, so long as they arrive when I need them. BT once ran a witty commercial showing the scale of technical effort that went into maintaining a copper-wire connection to an unappreciative elderly customer in the Scottish highlands. Listeners treat radio as a utility.
I don't care if the product gets to me via AM, FM, DAB, 3G, IP or any other system the geeks can devise so long as I can hear it when I want to at the click of a switch.
But there's more to it than that.
On one level, it obviously is. The listener's experience is, or certainly should be, platform blind. I don't care how utilities are delivered to my home, so long as they arrive when I need them. BT once ran a witty commercial showing the scale of technical effort that went into maintaining a copper-wire connection to an unappreciative elderly customer in the Scottish highlands. Listeners treat radio as a utility.
I don't care if the product gets to me via AM, FM, DAB, 3G, IP or any other system the geeks can devise so long as I can hear it when I want to at the click of a switch.
But there's more to it than that.
07 August 2014
Experience or Exploitation?
Pay rates in commercial radio are under intense scrutiny at the moment.
Scourge of BBC management John Myers has turned his fire on the Bauer Media group, who have allegedly been putting wannabe jocks to air on national digital radio stations without paying them anything.
John's not mentioned news as yet - but as someone who's done his damnest to get journalism postgraduates into radio jobs with a measure of success over the past 20 years I thought it could be useful to add a few thoughts about what is, and what isn't, acceptable practice.
Scourge of BBC management John Myers has turned his fire on the Bauer Media group, who have allegedly been putting wannabe jocks to air on national digital radio stations without paying them anything.
John's not mentioned news as yet - but as someone who's done his damnest to get journalism postgraduates into radio jobs with a measure of success over the past 20 years I thought it could be useful to add a few thoughts about what is, and what isn't, acceptable practice.
04 August 2014
Car Compulsory
I'm beginning to think we should make a driving licence an entry requrement for Journalism courses.
It goes without saying that mobility has always been an advantage for newshounds. Bus timetables are not designed around radio's requirements for earlies and lates. Fires and murders often occur in exasperatingly isolated locations not served by Network Rail.
What's different in 2014 is that it's difficult, if not impossible, to get a job, or even to get freelance work to build the portfolio tequired to apply for a job, without a driving licence in your pocket. And now, it seems, the keys to a car as well.
It goes without saying that mobility has always been an advantage for newshounds. Bus timetables are not designed around radio's requirements for earlies and lates. Fires and murders often occur in exasperatingly isolated locations not served by Network Rail.
What's different in 2014 is that it's difficult, if not impossible, to get a job, or even to get freelance work to build the portfolio tequired to apply for a job, without a driving licence in your pocket. And now, it seems, the keys to a car as well.
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